kasi

I've been living in Chalong for over a year now and like it. It's quiet. 5-10 min to Phuket town and golf, 25 min to patong and lovely ladies.(though I've made it in 15 on a motorbike with little or no traffic.)

Great restaurants 5 min. away and 15 min from Nai harn beach.

I know of a couple brand new houses available for rent on a yearly lease. pm me if you like more info.

I've used both the LA consulate and the embassy in DC for tourist visas and have always had a week or less turnaround time using fedex service each way. (if you're too cheap to use fedex that could be an issue)It's worth the extra couple of bucks for the overnight service when dealing with visas and the fate of your passport! IMHO!

I've also returned to Phuket from Singapore on Silkair with no visa and a one way ticket. No issues to report.

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Don't rely on it always working.

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yes I always allow for more time. The first thing I'd do when I'd return stateside was take care of my return visa. I've always been surprised how fast they process it.

In contrast my visits to KL for my b-visa work have been far more tedious though effective.

Each time (3 times now)at the embassy in KL some silly moocher shows up without enough ringit to pay for his visa and tries to get me or someone to change money for him. &lt;deleted&gt;!

I've used both the LA consulate and the embassy in DC for tourist visas and have always had a week or less turnaround time using fedex service each way. (if you're too cheap to use fedex that could be an issue)It's worth the extra couple of bucks for the overnight service when dealing with visas and the fate of your passport! IMHO!

I've also returned to Phuket from Singapore on Silkair with no visa and a one way ticket. No issues to report.

My understanding is that they give a 2 day grace period.

I missed a flight out of BKK once which caused a 2 day overstay.

Didn't raise an eyebrow upon leaving.

I don't plan on trying to arrange my schedule around that grace period.

After all TiT! You never really know.

Except that they really don't want us here. We are just barely tolerated.

Good to hear that things are picking up.  I am hearing news about the possibility of another Tsunami--How much of an issue is this? 

Thanks

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Last time a tsunami hit the area was about 150 years ago. You probably have better odds of being struck by lightning! Or attacked by great white shark in Patong.

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AHHH... that's the wondrous amazement of the unpredictable and unscheduled style of Mother Nature. Just as easily as it may be tomorrow that the next tsunami hits....

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I guess we should all cash in our chips now and head for the hills and play ostrich.

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or...

conversely...

just be realistic and know that the occurence of a tsunami has no relationship whatsoever to the timing of the previous occurence.

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That's life and you will have to take it as it comes, it could happen tomorrow or in 200 years from now, live your life and don't worry too much about things you can't change.

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I agree whole-heartedly... was just trying to put a bit of realism to pie-in-the-sky optimists that think because we "already" had a tsunami, we'll be good to go for another couple of centuries.

Hopefully we will be, but realistically... there's no way to know.

Mother Nature has a penchant for being very unfair sometimes...

and she certainly doesn't do her work according to a time card.

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But if you are a gambler you believe in laws of averages and probabilities.

A hideous and more destructive tsunami could hit tomorrow. A meteorite could squash you 10 seconds from now. Neither are very probable.

At the craps table there are 36 ways for a seven to come up on a pair of dice. Which is the better bet? To bet against a seven being rolled? Or to bet a Tsunami will hit again very soon?

Ever notice how casino's seem to always make money?

I don't think it's question of fairness. It's more of an element of luck.

I saw the first wave coming in last year. I had no idea what it was. But as luck would have it I was in a position to get out of the way which I did. It was just dumb luck I wasn't out in the water swimming when those waves hit. I don't think "fair" had anything to do with it. If I win or loose at a casino "fair" has nothing to do with it.

My favorite Clint Eastwood line from the "Unforgiven" after the "kid" has just murdered a man.

The "kid rationalizes that he dead guy "had it coming". Eastwoods' character replies: "We all have it coming kid".

We all have it coming!

.

One of my favorite sayings: Don't worry about everything. Nothing is goin to be

allright.

The other way of looking at it is "not to worry, because everything is already exactly the way it is supposed to be"!

There are plenty of accommodations available in Phuket even during high season. The best places are booked well ahead of time but there are plenty left if you check around. Several new hotels are getting ready to open as we speak.

There should be plenty of rooms in the price range you mentioned. Try the Montana hotel in Patong they almost always have vacancies. Not the fanciest rooms but a great location and a nice pool. If they're booked there's a dozen or more guesthouses a stones throw away.

oh man!    i can't believed we missed you sir burr!

i had the little boyinRed and he's outside at the playground so we were sitting in the front where the big tv was.

shall we organize a new year tipple then?    

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I like tossing back a drink or two at the Green Man as well. I always go early because I like to drink dirty martinis. Only the boss knows how to make them right.

Most places will rent by the month. Try the Montana. cheap enough. If you pay 6 months at a time it gets real cheap.

High season is sometimes challenging. January bookings are quite full already.

If you want a cheap room for the month of january you might try the Spenard Motel in Anchorage Alaska!

Hi Fred,

you've got Gmail, use it mate, it has autosave.

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Sorry John. Nothing, nada, nichts. To access Gmail took me 15 minutes. I kept staring at the monitor, where at the left bottom corner something told me "done", but nothing was done, just a blank screen. After about 10 "refreshes" and 10 pop-up ads I finally got onto my mail.

Saturday I received a "Christmas song" in my Yahoomail from one of my sisters who lives in Germany. A file of only 3.4 mb. It was 5:30 AM here. Started out great, (for TOT anyway) 45 kb/sec, but aber 30 seconds it deteriorated to between 3.2 and as low as 1.9 kb/sec.

I went to the bathroom, put on a pot of coffe, showered and shaved. Emerging after about halve an hour it had quit and became unconscious once it reached 2.4 or .5 mb.

What garbage. They should be ashamed of themselves.

There's got to be a better way

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[/quote

..perhaps your ThaiProxy is very "lame"...

Changing proxy may help for a better connection....

To find out your IP -->

http://www.webyield.net/domainquery.html

A good proxy list -->

http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html

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That's all fine and well Kleiner, but what do I do with it ? What is a proxy ? I am not at all computer literate

Now, this morning for example: 5:59 AM, start computer. 6:00 AM, it's all booted up. Click "My yahoo". Go to bathroom. come back 6:03, nothing. Click refresh, make a pot of coffee. Return 6:05, still nothing. Click refresh a dozen times. Aha ! success. 6:08 Home page with the news:"You have 10 messages in your e-mail box" Click "get mail". 6:10 AM "verify password for security et cetera". 6:13: Can not find server. Click back button and try again. 6:15. There they are, all 10 e-mails. Click first e-mail: "Can not find server" Retry. 6:18 Read first e-mail.

And they call this "high speed internet" ???????

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Hahaha welcome to thailand!!

To get your own ADSL hookup you need to spend about 2500+bht a month.

Otherwise with the 1650bht a month service expect to share it with 20 or more other users sometimes.

Just have a few chang and chill out!!!!

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jflundy.

Don't believe anything you read about the weather forecasts.

In over 40 years of flying airplanes for a living all over the western hemisphere I have learned not to trust any forecast extending further that 48 hours.

Case in point. Here in Khao Lak, which is 100 km north of Phuket, (yes Virginia there is a Khao Lak even though the Travel community refuses to acknowlede it ) there has not been a cloud in the sky since Thursday, belying the forcast which called for thunderstorms and heavy rain over the weekend. It had been unusually cool and wet this December here though.

Meterology is an art not a science. More an educated guess. Good weather has an 80% correct predictability rate, bad weather less than 20%. In the tropics the weather tends to be more stable and therefore more predictable, especially during the dry seasons. The weatherbrains will then play the same record over and over, injecting some possible veriants.

I remember quite a few aviation forecasts for places in the northeast of the US: Generally clear, visibility unlimited, occasionally ceilings less that 10,000 feet, with a chance of ceilings 300 feet or less in thunderstorms with visisblities less than 2 miles. Now that covers all the bases, doesn't it ?

I have said that, should I ever want to go back to college I would try for a degree in meterology. Where else could one keep a job, if you're wrong 50 % of the time.

Come on over. Chances are good your daughter will get her tan.

Regards, the ol' Captain, happily retired.

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Yea TAF's are famous for telling you what the is like at the moment.

Everyone's just trying to cover his/her a$$.

Southwest airlines is now being sued for allowing an airplane to land on a snow covered runway.

Up in Alaska 737's are landing on snow covered runways 6-8 months out of the year.

That said weather in Phuket is fine and dandy! Now go put on some sunscreen!

Hi,

From airport to patong beach:

Does the metered taxi take 5 passengers?

We are travelling with 3 kids.

thanks a lot.

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I would be a squeeze. They are mostly 4 door toyota corollas.

Good to hear that things are picking up.  I am hearing news about the possibility of another Tsunami--How much of an issue is this? 

Thanks

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Last time a tsunami hit the area was about 150 years ago. You probably have better odds of being struck by lightning! Or attacked by great white shark in Patong.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

AHHH... that's the wondrous amazement of the unpredictable and unscheduled style of Mother Nature. Just as easily as it may be tomorrow that the next tsunami hits....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I guess we should all cash in our chips now and head for the hills and play ostrich.

Good to hear that things are picking up.  I am hearing news about the possibility of another Tsunami--How much of an issue is this? 

Thanks

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Last time a tsunami hit the area was about 150 years ago. You probably have better odds of being struck by lightning! Or attacked by great white shark in Patong.

It looks like it's off to KL again and I'll learn to enjoy my "visa run". The drive to Ranong is actually quite pleasant. And I'm told the casino up there is fun place to hang out for a couple of nights.

Thanks for the info gents.

No I'm not expecting a retirement visa, as my business is a real one and requires me to work. (the BIB are keeping an eye on foreigners running businesses that are actually making it work. So I'll have to be a good boy and comply with these draconian rules it seems.

I had my place inspected last week and the inspector was muttering under his breath how was it that foreigners could own businesses like mine?!

The 23 month retirement visa for my elderly lady friend was real, perhaps a mistake as someone mentioned in another thread.

There seems to be a little lull in business this week. But many friends who have tourist businesses saw a november that was better than last year.

I think this high season will very good. Bookings are very high already.

Maybe if it quits raining(we need the water though) things will pick up.

I'm here now on a 90 day single entry B-visa. I've got a thai company and have my work permit application in process.

Questions:

Once I have my work permit do I have to leave the country and go to a royal Thai embassy again to get the one year multiple entry B-visa?

Once issued how long are the work permits valid for. Do they really need to be renewed every 90 days along with the visa run.

Last year in KL I was denied an investment visa even though my condo's are valued in excess of 6M and are in my name.

I'd sure like to figure a way around the 90 visa run thing.

If the 3 year visa is real that would be nice. Probably wont be happening by Jan 18th when my current visa expires.

Also it's been over 6 weeks since I've applied for a work permit. Does it normally take so long?

Can't I just go to the local(phuket) immigration with my work permit in hand and get the one year visa.

An elderly( in her late 70's) lady friend went to local immigration with her retirement requirements to get her retirement visa. She requested a 12 month visa and was given a 23 month visa.

It seems they have a double standard for men in their 40's

Just move to Burma. Or perhaps Tehran. If you have that big a problem with christmas

Personally I think the thai girls dressed up in elves hats are rather cute.

yep for aircraft. Helicopter traffic mainly. But I've notice they aren't well maintained. I'm sure the local pilots are on their toes!

The owner(I think) of the kharna sutra PM'd me and said he is revising his wine list and will be spending more time at his restaurant.

His food is good as is the nice ambiance of his restaurant. I'll have to give them another try soon.

Best Indian food I have had in Phuket is from Kharnasutra in Phuket Tow, Its right next to Kra Chock See (sp).

Its not particularly cheap but its a nice restaurant and they do some really nice breads, The Vindaloo is the best although ask for chicken as its better than the mutton (its probably about the same as a hot madras in the UK).

The best breads there are the Poori and the Bathura (sp), One of them is deep fried but is the nicest Indian bread I have eaten anywhere.

The Ali Baba in PATTAYA is excellent, but is no relation to the Ali Baba's in Phuket, which are poor in comparison.

I'd love to start a curry club in Phuket, Where basically everyone just gets together once a fortnight or so and checks out a different Indian Restaurant - Used to do one in the Uk and it was a great laugh.

There used to be a nice Indian in Patong, down near the tailors off one of the beach road sois, Dont know if its still there, that was very nice as well.

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Is Ali Baba's in Pattaya there on beach rd near mikes mall? Food there was pretty good though a little expensive I thought.

In Patong there is a descent place on Rat-u thit rd opposite the divesupply shop. A Pakistani owner extremely nice fellow as is his family. Food was above average prices cheap and the price of the house wine reasonable.

200 meters south of that one are a couple of really terrible places. I have a horror story for each one.

The place off Bangla rd next to the Islander restaurant has ok food too but again they seem to have issues with their house wine. While the Islander charges 70bht for a nice glass of house wine these guys want 120bht a glass for some undrinkable Italian swill. Not to mention the tailor/owner of the restaurant seems to think he owns the street by parking his fancy car right in front of the restaurant(blocking the rather small street). I eat at the Islander often and witness this behavior frequently.

To be successful in Phuket requires getting many of the little details correct. IMHO. There are many many choices out there. And if you get tired of the tourist rip off places there seem to be a million thai food stands where you can eat well enough for 25-50 bht.

[it may not be the most authentic but try curry night at The Green Man in Chalong, every Friday from 7pm. Very good onion bhajis.

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I've tried the green man curry night. Nothing to write home about. Though the assortment of chutneys was pretty good. The curries themselves were rather british (bland). The cassoulet and the paella on the upstairs menu were really quite excellent.(not cheap though) And they also have some issues regarding their wines. Apparently they only stock wines on consignment from the wine merchants.

It ends up being a dumping ground for wines that don't move.

The best Indian food I have had in Thailand has been in MBK food hall. And the best Indian food I had in KL was in the Petronas Towers food hall. ###### those food halls are good!!

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That's where I had lunch yesterday! Very good indeed.

I'll have to give the red chili guy a try. Every-time I've passed there it looks as if they're not open for business.

I tried the place in Nai Harn just past Don's and found them rather disappointing and clueless.

The place(karna sutra?) in downtown phuket has average food at rather pretentious prices.(I resent being charged 180bht for a glass of cheap house wine or the 400bht corkage fee if you bring your own) The service is erratic(one time they brought my appetizers and main courses all at the same time!)(you expect that at a cheaper thai restaurant)

The owner is a very well spoken(obviously well educated) Indian. Nice enough guy but I suspect he makes his money elsewhere and the restaurant is not a main focus of his. Too bad he doesn't go over to Salvatores around the corner and get some tips on how to run a good restaurant. Or got to Bhukaras or the Rang Mahal in BKK.

40000 isn't much money for the average westerner.

A couple of hookers in Miami will set you back that much.

If they are Buddhist I might have a gentle discussion regarding good actions vs not so good actions.

Keep smiling regardless of the outcome. You may be surprised.

Otherwise chalk it up as 40K lesson in life.

We all get them from time to time!

If you want to be vindictive that put's you into a different sort of arena. Are you ready for that?